Metro News & Reviews

Transportation headlines, Friday, Jan. 29

The big news on Thursday was the $2.25 billion federal grant to California to help build a planned $43-billion high-speed rail line between Anaheim and San Francisco. I thought this quote from State Sen. Alan Lowenthal (who represents the Long Beach area) in the L.A. Times hit the nail on the head:

“How are they going to go from $6 [billion] to $7 billion in funding to $42 billion?” Lowenthal asked. “How are they going to attract private investors? How do they expect to get $17 billion to $19 billion, as they have said, from the feds?”

Car-sharing has proven to be a hit in the city of Los Angeles, which has devoted 12 — that’s not a typo — parking spaces near UCLA and USC for the rental cars, according to Streetsblog Los Angeles. City officials said they would like to expand the program but are short of manpower to find other places to park the cars. One idea has surfaced: putting some at Metro station parking. Twelve spots in the entire 469-square-mile city? Really? The Source will need some time to digest this. Excellent post, Mr. Newton.

The City Fix says there are definitely benefits to linking cities by high-speed rail, but says that President Obama should have also considered providing more money to other modes of transportation — such as pedestrian enhancements and bus rapid transit that are needed to get people moving in cities. I think it’s worth pointing out that the same week that The Source reported that the feds declined to provide $77 million for preliminary engineering work on the subway and downtown connector, they provided California with $2.25 billion for a bullet train. I think that’s something worthy of discussion in someone’s public policy class today, Professor.

State Lawmakers Take Aim At Free Parking (there is too much of it, they say, and it encourages people to drive instead of taking the bus, walking or bicycling – a Senate proposal would prompt cities and businesses to reduce its availability)
Los Angeles Times